Just last week I was getting an education on snow removal thanks to a couple of CC pieces on the matter; a comprehensive 2018 post by Jason Shafer, and the recent Jeff Sun piece on the subject (Part 2 coming tomorrow!). Also, there have been a few COAL series that dealt with the matter, like some chapters by JOGRAD.
Coming from the tropics, snow removal is a topic that I can’t -and shouldn’t- tackle. The little that I know is that it’s specialized knowledge. After all, only once did I try to scrap ice from a Rover’s frozen windshield in Spain. My incapacity in achieving anything resembling a result confirmed my fears that there was more to the job than it seemed at first sight. Good thing Madrid wasn’t known for heavy blankets of snow, since a thin layer of ice was all it took to break me down.
But that doesn’t stop me from sharing a few vintage images where a good deal of shoveling, plowing, and scraping must have been needed. With that, I’ll leave these here, and let the snow experts speak in the comments section.
Lovely pictures although I can’t say I miss the snow .
-Nate
Nate: I do miss the snow myself. I grew up in the mid-west and saw an awful lot of scenes just like those above but with a little newer cars in them. So although I do miss the snow, I don’t want to go back to all that scraping and shoveling! If/when I do ever move back to that general area, I’ll be sure to either buy a townhome/condo with indoor parking and they have all snow removal done or I will rent an apartment with indoor parking with the same outcome. That way when it gets bad, I will just stay home/inside and watch someone else to all the work! haha.
That cream colored Thunderbird looks out of this world compared to its mostly 1950s lot mates.
I got to ride in one of those when I was fairly young. The driver got tired of me playing with the electric window and activated the lockout. I got really nervous because I thought I broke something!
Depressing!!! All that snow.
Love these sequences.
The ’54 Olds is going to give an unpleasant surprise to the next car in line when his traction aid drops off suddenly.
Ah yes, remember those chains? !!
Often snowfall was heavier, and temperatures much colder back then, in many regions. And snow shovels were typically made from heavier steel or aluminum, rather than today’s lighter plastics, that can better withstand being in the cold. Often it could be a hellish experience having to clean up after a storm. Especially, combined with ongoing high winds blowing snow back, where you just shovelled. Dramatic weather changes in my area.
Here’s one for ya. My father is on the far right and my grandfather with the fedora. No idea the year but guessing mid to late 50’s. Probably in the vicinity of Williamstown, VT.
That’s a great photo! The sled looks home-crafted, and your dad’s clothing is a good reminder of how one dressed for outdoor winter activities before the advent of modern fabrics. Classic.
+1…a great time capsule of the 1950’s!
That green Oldsmobile (Pontiac?) with the tire chains reminds me of a story I heard the other day about someone getting ticketed for not removing all of the snow from their car before venturing out on one of the local highways. It makes sense to me and getting all of the snow off the car before hitting the road was something that was drummed into my head by my parents when I was a young driver. Nevertheless, I often see folks out on the road who’ve only scraped a little porthole on their windshield or left the roof covered with a thick blanket of snow. Good to know that’s as illegal around here as it ought to be.
Let’s hope that the driver of the green car in the picture was just paused for the photo opportunity and then resumed snow removal.
Today in Canadian news there was a story from Hull (in Quebec across the river from Ottawa) about the police giving tickets for this. The police (Sûreté du Québec) called the snow covered cars “igloomobiles”. A great new word.
Oldsmobile
Another shot from Lunenburg Nova Scotia, c. 1963. Major shovelling required.
That last photo of the Corvair. I was at first going to say that if they had snows on the rear, they’d be all set. That’s when I assumed those were NY plates. Now that I think those are CA plates, I’m not so sure 🙂
When I first got my licence my mother had a 65 Corvair and it had snows on the rear. We lived in suburban Toronto. My first winter driving I backed out of the driveway on a snowy day and took off down the street, accelerating fast to show off the traction. About 100 feet from our drive the road turned right about 45 degrees. As I steered around the corner, there was no change in direction and I headed for the left hand ditch. Fortunately I did not have enough speed yet to reach the ditch and no one was coming toward me. It was very good fortune to be able to learn from a youthful mistake without it costing me anything.
Ottawa used to be a city well known for significant snow accumulation in winter. The city has received just 0.2 cm of snow so far this month, and it’s been 21 days since any snowfall of more than 2 cm. The city only received 54.6 cm of snow in January, more than a quarter of that on Jan. 13, when 14.8 cm fell. The Winterlude annual festival celebrating winter, has to deal with the Rideau Canal Skateway regularly being closed due to mild weather. The Skateway, billed as the longest skating rink in the world, never opened last season. And has only opened a couple days this season. Dramatic changes in our weather here. Where blizzards, and near blizzards, would hit here every winter decades ago.
Same for Montreal,lots of snow like the “Storm of the Century” in 1971.
https://www.thesuburban.com/blogs/suburban_weather/a-look-back-50-years-ago-the-montreal-blizzard-of-1971/article_a0ebbbc2-7c40-11eb-81e9-5fd4bf682665.html
Excellent pictures. I was doing a snowy drive a couple of days ago and was thinking about how we survived back in the day with the old rear wheel drive cars we had, and why was I, despite a vastly superior car and better tires more worried now than I was then.
And then an Alberta piloted Super Duty passed me at 120 on a very slippery two lane road surface and I had my answer. That would have scared me in a Beetle or a Fury or a Fiat 128 the exact same way it did in a Subaru.
Interesting pics! Bring back some nice memories. More not so nice ones though.
In my college years I learned the dilemma of streetside parking – you can go to all the effort to dig your car out, and then be guaranteed to find someone else parked there when you return. I recall reading of a Chicago tradition that putting a lawn chair in your cleared space would be respected by your neighbors so that your spot would be there for you later. There was no such level of civilization in Muncie, Indiana!
now – you get the snow off,finally.You manage to get the door open,perhaps a frozen lock.Key in, turn, WILL IT START!!!Now, THAT is winter driving.